Denise Bertschi with the curators Claire Hoffmann and Tadeo Kohan from the Centre culturel suisse in Paris. © Savoy Tristan, courtesy Pro Helvetia

News article

Denise Bertschi at the 2026 Gwangju Biennale

April 14, 2026

Featuring

Denise Bertschi
Early-Career Fellow 2024–2025

Details

Exhibition dates
September 5 – November 15, 2026

Venue
Eunam Museum of Art in Gwangju

Click here for more information on Denise Bertschi at the 2026 Gwangju Biennale.

Former Early-Career Fellow Denise Bertschi has been selected to present State Fictions. Beyond Blossoms and Borders at the Swiss Pavilion of the 16th Gwangju Biennale 2026 in South Korea. Building on the themes and methods of her fellowship project, this work explores visual cultures, the politics of (Swiss) neutrality, and postcolonial entanglements.

For the Swiss Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale 2026, Denise presents a selection of her long-term research based on materials from the Library Am Guisanplatz, the main library of the Swiss Federal Administration and the Armed Forces. These photographs and Super8-films were taken by the Swiss military delegation as part of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission at the Korean Demilitarized Zone since 1953.

Her multilayered installation examines the photographic gaze: who takes the image, and what is rendered visible or invisible. Engaging with visual archives as contested sites of memory, the project critically reflects on global power relations and their entanglement with post-war and post-colonial histories and geographies.

The goal of this long-term project has always been to unfold and critically revisit these terms of neutrality and what they mean, not only for Switzerland but for the Korean context.
Denise Bertschi

Structured in two chapters, the exhibition unfolds through films, photographs, textiles, texts, and historical documents, activating the archive as a “living” space of exchange. Denise’s practice of montage becomes a political gesture, foregrounding the power structures embedded in military imagery and questioning the notion of Swiss neutrality.

4_denise-bertschi-state-fiction.-fluid-montage-2026-digital-prints-and-wallpaper-detail-denise-bertschi — Denise Bertschi, *STATE FICTION. Fluid Montage*, 2026, digital prints and wallpaper (detail). © Denise Bertschi

6_denise-bertschi-state-fiction.-fluid-montage-2026-digital-prints-and-wallpaper-detail-denise-bertschi — Denise Bertschi, film still, *STATE FICTION. Neutral Only on the Outside*, 2021. © Denise Bertschi

9_denise-bertschi-film-still-state-fiction.-neutral-only-on-the-outside-2021-denise-bertschi — Denise Bertschi, film still, *STATE FICTION. Neutral Only on the Outside*, 2021 © Denise Bertschi

8_denise-bertschi-film-still-state-fiction.-neutral-only-on-the-outside-2021-denise-bertschi — Denise Bertschi, film still, *STATE FICTION. Neutral Only on the Outside*, 2021. © Denise Bertschi

7_denise-bertschi-film-still-state-fiction.-neutral-only-on-the-outside-2021-denise-bertschi — Denise Bertschi, film still, *STATE FICTION. Neutral Only on the Outside*, 2021. © Denise Bertschi

Her first monographic book on this project, „State Fiction. The Gaze of the Swiss military at the Korean Demilitarized Zone“ was awarded as one of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books in 2021. For this year's Swiss Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, Denise will publish a new edited volume that polyphonically analyzes this visual archive, featuring scholars from architecture and landscape history, Korean studies, neutrality studies, and cultural studies.

The exhibition for the Swiss Pavilion is commissioned for the first time by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and is curated by the Centre culturel suisse in Paris.